Monday, 10 October 2011

Cat Manno and her grandfather Victor made a pact that one day, just for the hell of it, they'd take the subway and stay on the A-train until the very end of the line where the last narrow spit of land runs out into the ocean at Far Rockaway. This isn't that day.On the first page Cat is knocked down by a speeding fire truck whilst crossing 55th St and 3rd Ave in Central Manhattan. She wakes up in a world made from all the books her grandfather used to read to her, peopled by some of the most memorable heroes of classic adventure fiction, brought vividly back to life. Cat must earn their friendship and help as she begins an odyssey and epic quest to find the mythic Castle at the World's End. And the name of that distant, mythic, wave-tumbled fastness? It is, of course, the castle of Far Rockaway ...If you enjoy reading good books; swashbuckling adventures with sword fights and pirates - then Far Rockaway is the book for you. Join Cat as she embarks on the journey of a lifetime ...

GUEST REVIEW

When
I received this book from Emma, I hadn’t heard of it or its author but this
wasn’t something that put me off as I hadn’t heard of some of the others she’d
sent me before and had been pleasantly surprised! First impression before even
opening this book was mainly “uh oh” as it didn’t strike me as the kind of
thing I’d like to read from its cover and there are very few books I’ve have
read whose covers I haven’t judged and been right haha.

Now the summary/outline made me think this book COULD be for me. It sounded magical and
fantastical and there are elements of it that definitely are. In her fantasy
world Cat meets all manner of weird and wonderful fictional characters from
Long John Silver of Treasure Island fame to Chingachook from Last of the
Mohicans as she strives to save her Grandfather who is also alive and kicking
in her fictional world. The fictional journey mirrors Cat and Victor’s attempts
to regain consciousness in the real world and
there is always that backdrop to remind you how the fantasy tale is
linked to their real destinies. It’s a really clever concept.

Unfortunately, it
didn’t work for me. I didn’t warm to Cat, although I thought her Grandfather
was a fantastic character. I think one of the reasons it didn’t work for me was
basically that I didn’t enjoy or read adventure stories when I was younger,
Treasure Island and Last of the Mohicans were tales I knew of vaguely but never
read and so some of the magic was missing for me! I have no doubt many many
people would absolutely love the adventurous fantastical journey Cat goes on
and this book would definitely be a great read for them.